Judging their reaction to the movie "The Passion", apparently many Jews fear that Christians are going to retaliate against them because they killed Christ.
American Christians are shocked by the idea that we would attack God's chosen people.
Historically, political enemies of the Jews in the Old World used religion to inflame the masses against the Jews, but American Christians would never do so.
I respect and admire Christians who are sincere in their faith.
I have heard nothing but good things about the Jews from Christians who have seen "The Passion." I have thought about renting the film and viewing it myself, if for no other reason than to see how much of the Aramaic dialogue I can understand.
From what I have heard from people who have seen "The Passion" Mel Gibson accurately portrays the Jews of Jesus' time as holding a wide variety of opinions, some good and others not so good. No more different that Israel is today.
You want honesty?
I am a conservative, not Orthodox, Jew but I live in a community where there are lots of Orthodox. I know several wonderful chassidic rabbis. One is really a very holy man, and yet he persists with a frankly unholy fear of Christianity. He fights against messianics (people of Jewish origin who are now Christians and who try to convert Jews to Christianity using some subterfuge) as though this was our worst enemy. It's dirty pool, but it's hardly the worst problem for Jews today.
People in the local (chassidic) Orthodox community will not say "Christmas," for example. They will only say "December 24th" or "X-mas." I consider that to be not Judaism but superstition, which the Torah actually does not approve of.
There is something wrong when you FEAR another religion that much. I love Christians. Christianity is the right religion for Christians. A good Christian and a good Jew are both trying to live a holy life in G-d's path, and it doesn't get much better than that. Neither is a threat to the other and we should coexist joyously. But some chassids have lived so isolated a life that they have fear of what they do not understand.
When "The Passion" came out, they were afraid that "it" might start to happen here. Many Jews have family members who went through the Holocaust. Antisemitism begins small, through social jealousy and religious bigotry. Most Jews were relieved to find that Christians were thrilled with the movie but not filled with bitterness toward Jews. Passion plays used to inflame Christians specifically against Jews. Gibson using that same word in his title was cause for ears perking up, at least, in the Jewish community. When I think of what my father lived through, I can understand the slight anxiety. It wasn't all that long ago.
But all's well and I am personally very happy that a pro-Christian movie did so well, considering how anti-Christian Hollywood is. It offends ME how openly Hollywood hates all Christianity (unless it's a "black church"??), and I am not even Christian.